NOW PLAYING

Egypt: Shooting the messenger

Evacuated from central Cairo by the military, and driven to a 5-star hotel with my bags on top of an army tank, was the

05 Feb 2011 18:21 GMT

Evacuated from&nbspcentral Cairo by the military, and driven to a 5-star hotel with my bags on top of an army tank, was the climax to an extraordinary and surreal fortnight.

It started back in Doha when I was stopped from getting onto&nbsptwo planes: visa issues that played out all the way to the immigration office in Egypt.

I was eventually given an entry stamp with a warning not to turn up again with a blank page in my passport.

I’m glad I made it. I was witness&nbspto a week that will change Egypt forever.

Friday’s Day of Rage erupts right outside Al Jazeera’s office window.&nbspFrom peace to mayhem in minutes.

The sky is white with tear gas as riot police fire metal canisters - supplied and made by the US - indiscriminately into the anti-government demonstration.&nbsp

The air so pungent our eyes water in the office some six floors up, and we cough through the lives.&nbspI watch plain-clothes policemen on their mopeds driving into the crowds, lashing at people with their clubs.

We go out to film a piece to camera ... down into the throbbing, unpredictable crowd.&nbsp

It resembles a scene from Vietnam: a helicopter hovers above, my feet crunch over debris and broken glass strewn across the streets, bloodied protestors stagger around in a daze, there are random outbursts of gunfire.&nbsp

I’m shown bullets - I am told they are live rounds.

Everyone wants to tell their story and spread their message.&nbsp"Mubarak must go!&nbsp We hate Mubarak!".

I can't sleep and neither does Egypt.

But by Saturday morning, an eerie calm on the streets, and shock as people digest what has happened.&nbsp

The ruling party headquarters is still&nbspburning after being torched overnight. Something unimaginable a week ago.&nbsp This has been a police state, run&nbspunder emergency law for 30 years.

We report seeing more than 100 corpses in morgues across three cities. And witness a body being carried past our office window.

Then something strange happens.&nbspThe police vanish from the streets.&nbspAnd there is anarchy.&nbsp

Armed gangs go from house to house, looting and vigilante attacks spread.&nbsp

Police stations are set on fire and then … pictures emerge of a raid on the antiquities museum – ancient artifacts, hundreds of years old, destroyed.

A wealthy middle-aged woman tells me she is on nightly duty with her neighbours, armed with anything from their kitchens that resembles a weapon, to protect their properties.

Everyone believes the police and government thugs are behind the widespread looting.

The army replace the police&nbsp- tanks and roadblocks all over downtown Cairo.

But despite this show of force, the relationship with the people remains a friendly one, the soldiers maintaining a respectful distance.

On Wednesday, pro-Mubarak supporters finally emerge.

They tell us many of them have been paid up to $80 to turn up.&nbspAnd suddenly I’m watching an ancient style battle unfold.&nbsp

Men on camels and horseback charge into the crowd made up of young and old, women and children, beating them with whips. Egyptian turns on Egyptian.&nbsp

The anti-government demonstrators grab whatever they can to protect themselves from the Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at them.

I commented on the situation non-stop for 10 hours.&nbspI was riveted.

Dawn breaks and the battle is still under way with the anti-government camp reclaiming their positions.&nbsp

They’ve sealed off Tahrir Square by putting metal sheeting around the area.&nbspAnd handed over pro-government supporters to the army&nbsp- many of them carrying police IDs.

Everyday we play cat and mouse with the government: Al Jazeera Arabic is closed down, our offices raided and then trashed,&nbspsix journalists arrested (24 in total), security warn us we'd be shot if we carried on filming from the hotel and finally our equipment taken.&nbsp

We don’t name our correspondents and never stop reporting from the heart of the action.&nbsp

Most of my broadcasts are from the square or our hotel balcony.&nbspMade even more challenging with no internet after the government pulled the plug.

As I write this, I hear that a journalist has been shot dead by sniper fire while reporting from his office window. I only left 12 hours ago.

Journalists are now clearly being targeted&nbsp-&nbsptwo of ours are taken out of their taxi and beaten by pro-government thugs.&nbsp

We had to evacuate our correspondent in Alexandria, while gangs were looking for her threatening to kill her.&nbsp